John’s now a freelance digital journalist and consultant, but his career began 20 years ago, as an editorial assistant on The Irish Post newspaper in London. He worked in that newsroom – which only had one computer with access to the internet – for five years, gaining lots of reporting experience and a few good anecdotes along the way.

Since then, he’s edited on newspapers that were going digital, and been in charge of digital newsrooms for The Wall Street Journal, International Business Times UK and Newsweek.

He joins the podcast to talk about the causes of burnout in newsrooms, how this can affect freelancers trying to pitch, and what could help.